That's a disgrace! Mourinho accuses Spurs star of faking injury to get Torres sent off

TERRY LEVELS AT THE LANE

Jose Mourinho slammed Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen for his part in the red card shown to Chelsea star Fernando Torres — and claimed the Belgian’s behaviour was part of a plague of foreign players tricking English referees.

Vertonghen fell clutching his face after a clash with Torres in the 81st minute at White Hart Lane. Television replays showed there was little, if any, contact between the pair but the Spaniard was sent off for a second booking.

Two other Premier League bosses, Crystal Palace’s Ian Holloway and Sam Allardyce of West Ham, were also fuming after diving controversies.

‘I don’t think the referee is guilty,’ said Chelsea manager Mourinho. ‘He made the wrong decision, but he trusts the player and he sees a player who looks like he’ll be going to hospital with broken bones pretending it was a violent action. I think the normal tendency is to follow him and make that decision.’

Mourinho was also dismissive of the suggestion that Torres should have been shown a straight red for scratching Vertonghen’s face in the first half, an offence which could see the striker punished retrospectively.

‘It doesn’t look good from Fernando,’ said Mourinho, ‘but it looks worse when a player pretends he’s injured. You can lose control and explode in the heat of game but pushing the referee for a bad decision I really don’t like.’

Ouch: Vertonghen pushes Torres away as the Spaniard grabs his face

Angry: Vertonghen snarls at Torres who tries to laugh the incident off

Mourinho claimed Vertonghen’s over-reaction was part of a wider problem of foreign players feigning injury to gain favour with officials. ‘I think this is about the game and especially in this country,’ he said. ‘I learned before I came here what the game is and the principles you have to play by. When I arrived here in 2004, I had a couple of players from other countries and I had to educate them because England is England and not other countries.

‘In other countries, people say, “Oh, the guy was clever, he was very intelligent, he pretends that it is a penalty or a red card”. They say, “This player is really amazing”. That’s not the case in England, that’s why I don’t think the referee is guilty.

‘Maybe I’m old fashioned and the last one that cares about this. I’m not English but it is one of these things: don’t kill the show for millions of people just because you want to be clever. It’s a disgrace that you can do what he did to someone else in the same job. Hopefully the committee will remove Fernando’s suspension and give it to Vertonghen instead.’

The Chelsea boss fumed that the Belgian should have been suspended for Saturday's game after pulling down the shorts of Aston Villa’s Nicklas Helenius during Tottenham’s 4-0 Capital One Cup victory on Wednesday.

‘Vertonghen is a special guy,’ said Mourinho, ‘because three days ago he left the Villa striker naked and it was not a penalty or a card. He shouldn’t play this game, he should have been suspended with a red card against Villa. It’s top of YouTube and the ridiculous situations in football that the boy was naked.’

Down and out: Both players fell awkwardly after the challenge

You're off: Referee Mike Dean shows Torres a red card

Goodbye: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho speak to Torres as he leaves the pitch